


Let Me Count the Ways

by KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Hugs, Kisses, Love, Post-Canon, as told in Bullet Points, it's Alisha lovemail hours babey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26275900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/KrisseyCrystal
Summary: Maybe it could be a bullet-point list. Maybe it could be an essay. Maybe it could be a poem in iambic pentameter with a rhyming scheme: A-B-A-B. A-A-B-B-A.Or, in which Rose tries very hard to articulate just how much she loves Alisha and why.
Relationships: Alisha Diphda/Rose
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	Let Me Count the Ways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilentShanin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentShanin/gifts).



“Damn, you’re so…”

“So?”

Rose wistfully sighs and drapes both of her forearms over the back of Alisha’s vanity chair. “You’re so pretty,” she murmurs and watches the pink that crawls across Alisha’s cheeks in the reflection in front of them. 

Alisha pauses and holds her brush above the ends of her golden hair. She raises an eyebrow. “Pretty?” 

“I mean, there are lots of other things I could say about you, too, but…”

Alisha smiles to herself and lowers her eyes. “And you elect to say pretty, huh? Well, thank you, Rose. That’s sweet.” She sets the brush on the vanity and turns around in her chair. Rose lifts her chin from her arms as she meets Alisha’s sparkling greens with her own bright blues. “You yourself are very beautiful as well, you know,” she hums and Rose rolls her eyes.

“I know.” Rose drifts a slow finger down Alisha’s forehead and up the rise of her nose. She taps the round button tip of it once, then twice. “But we aren’t talking about me right now, silly.”

“Hm. And how regrettable that is.”

“Shut up.” Rose laughs and takes Alisha’s chin in hand to kiss her, soft and slow. When they part, she sighs. “I’m trying to be sincere here, Lisha. I mean, if you only knew all of the things I _could_ and _want_ to say about you…” _Everything that I think and love about you. Hell, I’m not even sure_ I _can put it all into words._

Lailah hums traitorously in her mind: _Unless you could?_

As the silence drags on, Alisha tilts her head. There’s a small bend to her brow. Her green eyes flutter over Rose’s face from top to bottom. “Yes?”

“It’s just…” 

An expectant silence fills the bedroom and after a too-long moment spent waiting for something brilliant to pop into her mind, Rose shakes her head. She sighs and straightens. And oddly enough, she begins to feel like she’s failing Alisha. Which is entirely a bizarre, sad thing: she doesn’t know quite what to do with this newfound, heavy weight settling inside her. Rose isn’t one to suffer a lack of confidence or a shortage of words. Not usually. So why now, why here, does she suddenly doubt her ability to articulate how and why she is so very, very much in love?

Rose cups both hands around the ornate curve of the back of the vanity chair. “Ugh. Never mind. C’mon, we should get some sleep, right? Got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” 

“Mm. A long day of riding, that’s for sure.”

Mercifully, Alisha doesn’t seem to have any idea of her inner turmoil.

Rose scrunches up her nose. “Eugh. I told you, Lisha. I could just use the spiritual power of the wind to run super fast all the way to Rolance. That’d work fine.”

_Ha! That’s what you think._

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Zaveid.

“And I already told you, too, how ridiculous that is, Rose. Shepherd or not, you cannot run across the entire country of Hyland and expect to be fine.” Rose has very propensity to think otherwise but doesn’t argue as Alisha adds, “There’s nothing wrong with riding a horse. I’ll even handpick a stallion for you tomorrow from Ladylake’s stables if you’d like. I promise all of our steeds are very nice and very well-trained. You won’t have any issues at all.”

“Mm-hmm.” Rose squints at Alisha, mouth pressed into a thin line. 

“Besides, if you did travel on your own, you’d miss out on scouring those bandits in the forests near Lastonbell. And you do so love helping keep the peace between Hyland and Rolance, don’t you?”

Rose sighs and tosses her head back. “I _suppose…_ ”

Alisha smiles. “I think I speak for both kingdoms when I say that we appreciate your help.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

* * *

Later that night, with one arm wrapped around Alisha’s shoulders and the other hand cushioning her head against her pillow, Rose finds she can’t get the thought out of her mind. It spins, over and over, tumbling like a formless liquid trying to find shape and bearing. Maybe it could be a bullet-point list. Maybe it could be an essay. Maybe it could be a poem in iambic pentameter with a rhyming scheme: A-B-A-B. A-A-B-B-A. 

Alisha’s breath is soft against her collarbone. Her body fits snug and warm up against Rose’s. Rose looks down at her sleeping face and drifts her fingers in slow circles over Alisha’s shoulder. 

_The many ways I love Alisha Diphda, huh…?_

* * *

The next morning, Alisha takes the snout of the thoroughbred she selected for Rose in hand. With all the kind affection in her voice usually reserved for the most handsome and beloved of animals, she purrs, “And this one’s name is Ash.” 

Rose would call it baby-talking if it didn’t make her stomach do funny, fluttering things at the idea that Alisha even _has_ a baby-talking voice. It’s cute. Too cute.

Huh.

Memories from last night stir in Rose’s head, and then, and all of a sudden, she thinks she knows how to start her list.

_Reason #13 I love Alisha Diphda: she does that funny little voice when she talks to animals._

It’s a decent beginning, if only odd because it's floating somewhere in the middle void of available talking points. But Rose comforts herself by confirming that something small and stupid like this doesn’t feel worthy enough to claim the top spot, the primary reason for her love and adoration.

 _Wow. That was so hard,_ Edna drawls.

_Shit. If I really get going on this, am I even going to be able to remember all of these?_

“He’s a sweetheart,” Alisha hums and Rose watches the way her white-gloved fingers comb through Ash’s straw-yellow mane as she talks. Her green eyes are melted and soft as she lavishes him with her attention. “So he’ll be a very gentle riding companion. You have my word.”

“If you say so.” 

“Do you need help mounting him?”

“W-what? No, I’ve got this.”

“Are you sure?”

Rose turns around, the heels of her boots scraping in the dirt. Grabbing the horn of the saddle with one hand and the back rim of it with the other, she puts her left foot in the gleaming metal stirrup and braces herself. She gathers her breath. _One. Two._

“Rose.”

“Yeah?”

“You might want to try your other foot, love.”

“O-oh.”

Rose’s face flushes bright red. Hurriedly, she drops her left foot from the stirrup and switches feet. Great. Now her hands are sweaty and she’s even more nervous about getting this wrong and landing flat on her face. Or—worse—spooking this poor horse and starting their mutual companionship off on the wrong foot.

Literally.

Rose flexes her fingers against the curved, dark leather over and over, trying to regain the feeling that’s suddenly been lost in them. 

After a moment of pause, Alisha steps up behind her. “Here.”

“Lisha—”

Rose’s voice falls short the instant Alisha’s gloved hands settle warmly on her hips. Her face blooms red up; her spine stiffens. Heat climbs all through her, odd and tingly. All of a sudden, her fingers can feel again. 

“Got a good hold?” Alisha murmurs over her shoulder.

Rose nods. She is very conscious of the way she can feel the ends of her red hair brush along her jaw. “Uh-huh.”

“Then on the count of three.” Alisha’s breath is soft against the nape of her neck. She presses a kiss right where Rose’s hairline meets her skin and Rose fights the shiver that darts down her spine. “One, two…”

With a quiet, “Hup!” Alisha deftly lifts Rose and with her help, with that unwavering support and rooted pillar of strength, Rose easily flings her other leg up and over Ash’s back, settling comfortably in his saddle. The twin spots on Rose’s waist where Alisha’s hands had once been are chilled now, but tingle still.

“Ah.” Rose eloquently. 

_Reason number #2 I love Alisha Diphda: she can lift me like_ that. 

Damn.

Alisha’s smile is a little too wide, too curled at its edges. She steps around Ash and gives his neck one final pat. “There. Better?”

“You could say that.”

Alisha’s grin widens. Her fingers drift up to Ash’s head and down to his snout. She scratches underneath once, twice, and lets her gloved fingers curl up against the bottom curve of his mouth. Then, she giggles. “All right, then. Let’s get moving.”

* * *

_Gentle,_ Alisha had described Ash. _A sweetheart._

 _Yeah, tell that to my ass,_ Rose thinks now and gripes as she gives up on trying to stay in the antsy horse’s saddle any longer. With a lift of her leg and shift of her weight, she slips off—er, dismounts. Definitely dismounts. That sounds more graceful.

As soon as she hits the grass, she rolls until her feet are under her. The tails of her jacket flail about her shoulders. Then, Rose snaps her head up and rises to a stand. 

The skirmish against the bandits is already in full swing. If Rose is being honest, she’s a little impressed. She would never admit it out loud, but she had her doubts that Alisha’s plan to apprehend them would work. Turns out: somehow, Alisha had been able to anticipate most of what the bandits would do in retaliation to their advances and had posted her small handful of knights in her squadron accordingly.

Now, crystal-clear, Alisha’s voice rings across the grounds: “Do not aim to kill! Only disarm and incapacitate! We must bring them all back to Lastonbell alive!”

_Reason #3 I love Alisha Diphda: Even after everything she has been through, she is still Like That._

Admittedly, it’s been a while since Rose has seen Alisha fight. She has never, not once, forgotten how fearsome of a force the princess is to be reckoned with on a battlefield. But a wide-meadowed war is different from a forested skirmish between rogues. 

Here, with lesser open ground and more sprawling roots and thick trees, Alisha is still quick on her feet. She dashes to avoid a swing a bandit makes at her with his scimitar. With a spin of her own spear, she yanks her weapon around her back until the blade of it is pointed at the ground and its rounded end is in the air. She thrusts it forward and bashes it above the ear of the nearest bandit. Another twirl and deft maneuver later, and she’s knocked out the feet of another bandit from under himself.

Rose grins widely. Even though her daggers are already half-out, she quietly slips back into their sheaths. She crosses her arms over her chest and sticks out one hip.

_Reason #4 to love Alisha Diphda: She’s a fucking badass. Damn. Look at her go._

A glint from one of the bandit’s weapons catches her eye. By the time Rose gets the chance to look, she realizes too late that there’s a gap in the carefully planned positions of Alisha’s knights. One of the bandits is intending to get away, getting the slip on a sergeant that’s not where he should be.

Well, Rose can help with _that._

With a quick push from Zaveid, Rose plants her feet shoulder-width apart and in the bandit’s way. She crosses her arms over her chest and grins, tossing her head back in a way that makes her hair fall back behind her ears. “Hey, there. Where do you think you’re going?”

The bandit swallows.

“Rose!” Alisha calls and Rose lifts her gaze to give the princess a wink.

The bandit makes the mistake of trying to look back. With one chop of the side of her hand against the nape of his neck, the bandit crumples to the forest floor. 

Alisha, as soon as the last bandit is down, spins around with blazing eyes. Immediately, her sparking greens lock on to the sergeant who had slipped up. Rose bites back a grin as Zaveid whistles. 

To both of their surprise, however, Alisha doesn’t snap. 

She doesn’t rage. 

She gives the sergeant one last, lingering hot look, before barking out orders: quick instructions for a handful of her soldiers to tie up the bandits. Those that can walk will walk alongside a mounted knight. Those that cannot will be set astride a horse. 

When all is said and done, Alisha once more helps Rose up to more easily mount her horse. Then, with an easy, practiced swing of her own weight, Alisha mounts hers. She makes it look so _simple_ , too _._ So effortless. With the reins looped in one hand, she turns her horse to the right two steps and overlooks her knight squad. The white tail of her horse flicks to the side.

_Reason #5 I love Alisha Diphda: She bears her role as princess and leader handsomely well._

“Move out!” Alisha barks. 

There’s a sharp, collective salute from the small troop behind them. As one, they shout, “Yes, sir!” and march.

When Alisha finally turns and runs her eyes over Rose, finally she smiles. The hard sternness lining her face ebbs. In its place is something softer, something reserved only for Rose. “Ready to keep going?” 

Rose’s tongue, surprisingly, is a little dry in her mouth. “Y-yeah,” she rasps. “Lead the way.”

 _Reason #6 I love Alisha Diphda: When she looks at me_ like that, _I think I forget how to breathe._

_Okay, that one kind of sounds bad out of context, but I promise it’s totally good._

She’s _totally good._

Slowly, Alisha raises an eyebrow. “Rose?”

“Yes?”

“You’re staring. Are you feeling alright?”

“Y-yes!” Rose squeaks and she looks away. She clears her throat and ushers Ash forward with a squeeze of her heels. “C’mon. Your knights are gonna get ahead of us, aren’t they? We don’t want to strand them without their princess. That wouldn’t make for a very good entrance riding into Lastonbell.”

“Uh-huh…”

Rose bows her head as something swirls in her gut, warm and butterfly-like and—at the same time—honey-sweet.

The sun is high above them as they march further west.

* * *

If it has been a long time since Rose has seen Alisha fight, it has been an even longer time since Rose has seen Sergei Strelka of the Rolancian forces. He is ready and waiting in Lastonbell for the captured bandits, full of nothing but stiff admiration and praise for the way they have been captured and brought in.

Rose watches Sergei and Alisha interact from her spot with her back to the nearest stone wall. A lazy smile curls her face.

_Reason #7 I love Alisha Diphda: She really does know how to hold herself as a true knight. She’s professional. Courteous._

Rose tilts her head and gets distracted by the way the descending sun filtering in through the window hits Alisha’s jaw and throat just right. She’s holding her head high, nodding to whatever it is Sergei’s saying and responding in turn with eloquent, formal speech. A gesture of her hand.

 _Reason #8 I love Alisha Diphda: She’s so beautiful when she is_ _in her knight mode._

Rose feels like she might need a subcategory for that reason alone. Of all the different hats Alisha wears: princess, Squire, knight, revolutionary, commander, advocate—lover—why, Rose needs different bullet-points for each of those. Then she could add a secondary tier under each of those various sides of Alisha and pinpoint what exactly about those parts of her she adores. 

_So, what, does that put me at reason #16 now? No, I used #13 earlier. So that means I’m on #17…?_

“Rose?”

Rose blinks and looks up. Concerned and hard jades bore into her eyes, but before Alisha can say a word, Rose grins and straightens up. She lifts her hands above her head and stretches. “Whoa, sorry! Did I zone out there? Sorry about that. You all done with Sergei? That was quick.”

“Yes,” Alisha says slowly. 

“Great. We stopping for the night here in Lastonbell?” 

Alisha shakes her head. “No, unfortunately. We must press on if you hope to reach Pendrago tomorrow and have enough daylight to deal with the Malevolence you spoke of. I hope to make as much headway as possible today. We’ll continue on for now and set up camp once the sun has fallen.”

“Oooooo a _camp_. So we’re gonna rough it tonight. Nice.”

Alisha raises an eyebrow and stares at her.

Rose blinks. “What?”

For a long moment, Alisha doesn’t say anything at all. She stares and squints her eyes, watching Rose for minutes on end. At last, finally, when Rose feels like the silence has stretched into the realm of awkwardness, Alisha shakes her head. “Nothing. Never mind,” she mumbles. “Let me gather my troops and then we can be off.”

“Uh, okay.” 

Rose watches Alisha march away and frowns.

* * *

A few hours after the sun has fallen past the horizon, dousing them all in night, Alisha calls their knight squad to a stop to set up camp just as they have reached somewhere in the middle of the Meadow of Triumph. Immediately, her soldiers break their stiff-lined formation and bow their helmets together as they fiddle with putting up their tents. Alisha gestures for Rose to dismount as well and as soon as Rose’s feet are back on blessed ground, Alisha takes Ash’s reins in hand to tie both horses to the lowest branch on a nearby tree. 

“Rose,” Alisha calls without looking.

“Yeah, Lisha?”

“I’m terribly sorry to bother you with this, but do you think you could set up our tent for us? I need to have a rather serious discussion with a certain sergeant of mine.”

Rose passes a quick, skittering glance to the sergeant in question. As if he knows he’s in trouble, the young man keeps casting quick looks over his shoulder towards the princess in question. Alisha, to her credit, has not returned a single one of his furtive glances. He is absolutely _squirming._

Rose kind of loves it.

_Reason #17 I love Alisha Diphda: She knows how to give a guy a good scare._

“Aw. You sure I can’t watch you, Lisha?”

Alisha turns around as a huff of laughter escapes her. “As much as I find that flattering, no. I highly doubt it would be appropriate to have an audience for a disciplinary discussion between a commanding officer and their subordinate.”

“‘Disciplinary discussion.’ Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

“I’m putting it in polite terms.” Alisha gives her a small smile—again that secret, favored look—and dips her head. “So, would you…?”

“Huh? What? Oh, yeah. I mean, no, of course I don’t mind.” Rose leans in and steals a chaste kiss. “For good luck,” she murmurs into the warm space between them and winks. “Now go get ‘im, Lisha. Give him a piece of your mind and all that!” 

Alisha shakes her head and turns away. It half looks like an eye-roll, half something fond and sweet that makes Rose’s heart flutter. “Alright. Thank you, Rose.”

Still, Rose watches Alisha traverse across the makeshift camp in the process of being set up. It is entirely too satisfying the way so many of the knights around the unlucky sergeant suddenly duck their heads as the princess approaches. One of them elbows the young man and all of a sudden, their hushed whispers stop the moment Alisha clears her throat above him. She gives a single gesture with her hand and leads him away from camp.

At least Rose can somewhat make out what sounds like distant shouting as she sets up their tent.

* * *

There are things about Alisha that Rose has every inability to articulate simply because Alisha is _Alisha._

Ironic. She knows. She’s aware.

But she still hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it.

Rose has been staring at the top slope of canvas above her head for far too long by the time Alisha finally makes it back to their tent. _Reason #18 I love Alisha Diphda: Around me, there is no such thing as ‘walls.’_ In the slump of Alisha’s shoulders and the droop of her face, Rose can see how ragged and exhausted she is. Rose takes one look at her, smiles, and opens her arms.

With a small grin of relief, Alisha falls to her knees first and then throws herself on top of Rose and their shared bedroll.

_“Oof!”_

“Sorry.” Alisha’s voice is muffled, her breath softly tickling against Rose’s neck. When she sighs, she sighs with her entire body in one, giant, thorough heave of air. “I hope you weren’t waiting up for me.”

“And what would be so wrong with that?” Rose asks with one hand already in Alisha’s hair, gently tugging her hairband free. Once Alisha’s golden locks are loosened, tumbling over her shoulders and down Rose’s cheeks, the princess sighs again. Yet another building headache averted.

Without answering her question, suddenly, Alisha plants her hands into the bedroll on either side of Rose’s shoulders and pushes her torso up. She frowns.

Rose blinks up at her. “What’s with that look?” And why does she feel like a fossil being identified?

“You’ve been acting strange all day today, Rose. Zoning out. Being distracted and flighty. Ever since our conversation last night.”

“I have?”

“Yes. Ever since you called me ‘pretty.’”

Rose’s grin turns cheeky. “I mean, that’s ‘cuz you _are.”_

“And _you’re_ being stubborn and entirely missing my point.” Alisha’s green eyes give her one more tossed-marble lookover before she sighs and sags down on top of Rose again, much more gently than before. Her hands slip between the lining of the bedroll and Rose to curl over the back of Rose’s shoulders. “Was it something I said?”

“What? No!”

“Then what have you been thinking about?”

Rose’s breath hitches.

Her arms tighten a bit pathetically around Alisha’s back and waist. “Would you…believe me if I told you it’s about how much I love you?”

She can feel Alisha’s surprised blink against her neck. “Wait. Really?”

“Y-yeah.” Rose hefts a laugh. It’s a small, surprised thing at the sudden wave of emotion she feels. Her eyes burn and she blinks once, twice, trying to get rid of it. “Damn. I’ve kind of been super sappy all day, I guess. I keep thinking, _I love it when Alisha smiles at me,_ or, _Wow, her hair really looks beautiful under the sunlight there,_ or, _when she’s commanding her troops and they stand to attention, and I see that fierce look in her eyes, I—”_

“—Rose—”

“—I’ve been trying all day to think of all the ways I could tell you how much I love you,” Rose confesses to the quiet. It is bare and soft and only the music of crickets and occasional shuffle of another knight’s tent breaks the silence. “Unfortunately, everything I came up with sounded pretty lackluster outside of my head. It didn’t feel like it was enough.”

“Rose.”

“What?”

“What makes you think I don’t already know?”

Rose snaps her gaze up to Alisha as she pushes herself up once more. 

The soft, tender smile on Alisha’s face, framed by her falling hair, is the most beautiful thing Rose has ever seen. 

“You do?”

Rose traces the curve of one cheek, feels the vibrations through her fingertips as Alisha answers, “Of course. You tell me so often, in so many other ways than just words and the occasional, ‘You’re so pretty,’ you know. I cherish each one.”

The burn in Rose’s eyes melts the world around her. 

Familiar heat warms her heart as her hand slides up to the back of Alisha’s head, fingers weaving through her hair. “C’mere.”

She kisses Alisha slowly. Intimately. Dearly. Her tongue peeks out and traces the line of those lips until Alisha gasps ragged against her mouth and Rose suddenly realizes her hands have slipped beneath Alisha’s jacket. The skin she finds is warm, warm, warm.

“I love you,” she breathes. “I love you. I love you.”

“I love you too, Rose.” 

_Reason #1 why I love Alisha Diphda: There’s something in her voice, something secret and sacred, when she tells me she loves me, too._

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhh thank you for another request, Shanin!! <3 <3 i'm ALWAYS down for schmoopy fluff, man <3 <3 this was so much fun!! ALSO, check out [BOTH](https://twitter.com/SilentShanin/status/1306061133300760580?s=20) of these [amazing ARTS](https://twitter.com/SilentShanin/status/1306949547097313282?s=20) Shanin did for this piece, too!! THE AMBIANCE...the soff...!!
> 
> god, what an honor <3 <3
> 
> <3 thanks for reading! <3
> 
> [tw](https://twitter.com/kissykrissey) / [tblr](https://krisseycrystal.tumblr.com/)


End file.
